The BBC iPlayer continues to increase audiences with the combination of the Olympics and increased popularity of smartphones and tablets delivering record-breaking numbers in 2012.

During the year there were 2.32 billion TV and radio programme requests and 36.5bn minutes of BBC programmes watched across all platforms.

Danny Boyle’s spectacular Olympic Opening Ceremony topped iPlayer viewing in 2012 with 3,326m requests, followed by Top Gear with 2,834m and Sherlock with 2,528m requests.

However, the biggest trend came in the growth in iPlayer requests from mobiles and tablets. There was a 177% increase year on year of requests from mobiles and tablets – making up over a quarter of total iPlayer requests. There were close to 14m downloads of the iPlayer mobile app, with 300,000 downloads on Christmas Day to devices such as the Nexus 7, iPad and Kindle Fire HD.

Daniel Danker, general manager, programmes and on-demand, said: “2012 was a ground-breaking year for BBC iPlayer with a record 2.32 billion requests for programmes across over 650 platforms. Last year, the use of iPlayer shifted from PCs and early adopter devices like game consoles to screens used by all audiences. Mobile, tablet, and connected TV skyrocketed, with a particular emphasis on audiences taking iPlayer on the go.”

10.8m BBC TV programmes downloaded to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices, following the launch of mobile downloads in September 2012. Downloaded programmes already make up 6% of TV viewing on mobiles and tablets

December continued to be the most popular month for iPlayer, with a record 217 million requests for TV and radio programmes – a 23% increase over 2011.

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You can talk to Julian on Twitter @julianclover, on Facebook or by email at jclover@broadbandtvnews.com. Julian has been following the media world for over 20 years with a focus on the UK and Nordic markets, HD, 3D and connected TV technologies.